An Instinct for Violence

There's a short interview with Viggo Mortensen at MSN. It's the usual movie promotion fluff, but I thought one thing he said was particularly interesting. The interviewer compares Mortensen's characters in A History of Violence and Eastern Promises:

Violence is almost instinctual to both men.

It's a learned thing. In both cases, in different ways, their upbringing and their training is to be able to take care of themselves physically. But you're right, there gets to be a certain moment and there is no hesitation. There is no room for it.

What's interesting is that the interviewer (like most of us) assumes that violence is instinctual, a part of our animal selves we have no real control over. But Viggo says the exact opposite. Violence is a conditioned response, one that is honed and refined to the point that it springs forth like a reflex. In this context, violence is a part of how some people are socialized rather than a purely abnormal or sociopathic response. Perhaps it is this overlooked social aspect that is the appeal of violence in cinema. Its ability to instruct, inform, refine, and measure one individual against another, not as an outlet for baser instincts, but as a side effect of living within the complex demands of community and family life.

It's not instinct. It's culture.

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Listening to: The Decemberists - On The Bus Mall
via FoxyTunes